


User Manual

by Braincoins



Series: Connection-verse [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-23
Updated: 2016-11-23
Packaged: 2018-09-01 18:03:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8632990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Braincoins/pseuds/Braincoins
Summary: Shiro gives Lance some tips & tricks on the care and maintenance of Keith.





	

**Author's Note:**

> \- Working on the next epic hellfic, like ya do, and I realized, "Oh, there's some background there I could very easily explore in a Klance drabble!" SO I DID. Ta-da!
> 
> \- As usual, only minor editing, etc. 
> 
> \- There's a throwaway line that links this to the Connection-verse, and this _is_ part of the lead-in to the next epic hellfic. You don't really need to have read "[Connection](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8587555)" to read this, though.  
>  =================================

            Lance let loose a virulent torrent of Spanish interspersed with Keith’s name and, of course, “Mullet.” As he swore, he was mowing down training drones in angry swaths. He whirled and blasted one trying to get the drop on him before going back to the veritable mob of cannon fodder he’d asked for.

            “Pause Training Sequence.”

            Lance lowered his rifle as he whirled towards the voice. “WHAT THE…?!”

            Shiro strolled in from the doorway. He was calm today, or, at least, for now. _Guess someone was having some quality time with **their** significant other,_ Lance groused.

            “What’s going on, Lance?”

            “Just getting in some training, keeping the skills sharp,” he declared loftily. _Go away, Shiro. I want to vent. Violently._

            “Uh huh. And that has nothing to do with Keith?”

            Lance blinked. “Waaait. Did he send you here to talk to me?”

            “Not technically.” Lance swore some more under his breath. His rifle returned to bayard form, and he shoved it in his jeans pocket as Shiro approached. “But when I saw him, he seemed upset.”

            “Upset?! _He’s_ upset?!”

            “What was the fight about?” Shiro asked calmly.

            “What _don’t_ we fight about?!” Lance pointed out.

            Shiro snorted a little, his smile gentle. “Well, what was it this time?”

            “I just wanted to get to know him a little better. He never talks about himself. I tell him all about my family back home, and I know it’s different for him, but he just won’t open up and I feel like I’m always doing all the talking and I want him to open up, but no matter how many times I ask him he just won’t talk and…”

            “Whoa, whoa! Ease down. Let’s start there. Keith has… issues with the whole ‘family’ thing.”

            “Really? Like what?”

            Shiro shook his head. “That’s not for me to say. But it’s going to be a hard topic for him to talk about. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but he’s not really much of a talker.”

            “Oh, I noticed. He’s like a freakin’ robot sometimes!” Lance sulked. “Why’d I have to fall for a robot?”

            Shiro’s smile widened. “You didn’t. He’s not. He’s just…”

            “He has two settings: robot and psycho,” he insisted.

            “That’s not exactly…” Shiro sighed. “C’mon, let’s get some water while we talk.”

            “What is this, anyway? ‘Take the little brother’s boyfriend out for a drink and talk him out of being angry’?”

            “Basically, yes. And no, Keith doesn’t know I’m here.”

            Lance groaned, but relented, heading for the door. “Fine, fine. So, spill. Give me the Mullet User Manual.”

            “I don’t have a ‘user manual’ for him; he’s a human being. But… well, you got some of it anyway, when you said he has two settings.” The door opened for them and Shiro led the way out into the hall. “He’s not good at showing small amounts of emotion. He’s never ‘a little happy’ or ‘slightly upset.’ It’s pretty much all or nothing with him. And whatever he’s feeling, he feels deeply.”

            “I, uh… might have noticed that,” Lance admitted quietly, fighting to keep the blush out of his face.

            “Good. Then you’ve got the most important part.”

            “But then how do I flip the switch? I mean, obviously I don’t mind telling him all about myself, but I feel… I dunno. I feel like I’m being self-centered and stupid when all we talk about is me.”

            Shiro stopped walking to look at him.

            “What?” Lance asked in confusion.

            Shiro blinked and shook his head. “Nothing, sorry.” He resumed walking.

            “I want to know more about him. I want to know everything about him, and not just, y’know, how to beat him in sparring. But he just won’t open up to me.”

            “You’re pushing him,” Shiro said.

            “Well, YEAH.” _Hello Space Captain Obvious._

            “Think about it: if you walked up to Keith and physically pushed him, what would he do?”

            “Probably yell at me and then push me back.”

            “Exactly. He doesn’t like to be pushed. The more you push, the more he’s going to resist.”

            “Well, I’m not going to beg.” Lance folded his arms. “I have my pride.”

            “No one said you have to beg.” They walked into the kitchen and Shiro went to fish out a couple of water packets for them. “You just have to be patient.”

            “ME? You’re telling _me_ to be patient? Keith wouldn’t know patience if it bit him in the…”

            “I know that,” Shiro said quickly. “But you’re not always patient either.”

            “I am practically made of patience, as shown by my willingness to date that idiot in the first place.”

            Shiro cleared his throat. “Who was it who said he wanted ‘the big kaboom’?” He offered over one of the water packets.

            “That’s not about impatience, that’s about glory! That’s about looking cool! I mean, showing off how cool I am,” he corrected as he accepted the drink.

            “It’s a little bit about impatience,” Shiro insisted. He leaned against the wall. “You’re a really good guy, Lance. You’re a good member of the team. I know you care about Keith. You’re just not going about it the right way.”

            Praise from his hero _did_ quell some of Lance’s annoyance a bit. “So, what’s the ‘right way’ then?”

            “He needs to know that you’re there for him.”

            “I tell him that all the time!”

            “You need to _show_ it to him. Keith cares more about actions than words.”

            “Well, what am I supposed to do? Just follow him around constantly, staring at him silently and waiting for him to finally tell me his favorite food?”

            “Um. No. No, I wouldn’t recommend doing that.”

            “Well WHAT then?”

            “Just…” Shiro paused to sip his drink while he thought about it; Lance drank down half the packet waiting for him to finish the sentence. “Just enjoy the time you have with him. Enjoy what he _is_ willing to say and do, and if he gets quiet, you have to wait for him to talk. Let him have time to build up to whatever it is he wants to say.”

            “Shut up and accept it, basically?”

            “Eh. Just let him come around in his own time and be there for him when he does.” Shiro shrugged. “I mean, I think he kind of enjoys some of the fighting you two do, but I know he’s not enjoying this right now.”

            Lance thought about that. “I’m used to girls, y’know? Real talkative, real open about their feelings, really easy to just hang out with and get to know.”

            Shiro nodded. “Sure. But not all girls are that way.”

            “The ones I dated were.”

            “Well, Keith’s not. You have to get used to how he does things. And if you don’t want to, or can’t, well then…” He shrugged. “Maybe it wasn’t meant to be.”

            Lance frowned. “I don’t want to just give up.”

            “Good.” Shiro grinned. “He doesn’t want to either. But you didn’t hear that from me.” He sipped from his packet again.

            “Thanks for the User Manual, Shiro.”

            “Hey, that’s not the user manual. That’s barely the first chapter. I don’t know him inside and out; he’s like a brother to me, sure, but no one but Keith can help you understand Keith.”

            “So, what do I do right now then? Is he super-mad at me?”

            Shiro made a thoughtful noise. “I wouldn’t say ‘super-mad’. But instead of taking it out on training drones, why don’t you two try going at it instead?”

            “So, skip straight to the makeup sex?” he asked with a grin. He couldn’t say it without a blush, but dammit, he couldn’t let such a great opportunity slip by.

            “NOT. What I Meant,” Shiro groaned, facepalming. “And please don’t ever, ever say anything like that around me ever again. That’s not a mental image I want.”

            Lance grinned a little. “Yeah, okay, I get it. Challenge him to a fight, burn off the anger, right?”

            “Yes, exactly. THAT. Not… the other thing. And once he’s done being angry, he _will_ talk to you, if you give him time to get to it.”

            “Thank you, Shiro.”

            “Hey, anything for my team.” He smiled. “And, before you go, one more thing?”

            “Yeah?”

            His smile widened. “He wouldn’t get so angry if he didn’t care so much about you. You make him happy. Keep it up.”

            Lance felt the anger in him finally ebb away entirely, and he gave Shiro his best and brightest smile. “Doing my best.”


End file.
